Disclaimer 1: There are way better players in the game than me, I borrowed most of these concepts from them. Use at your Civilization’s risk.
Disclaimer 2: I am calling this a Basic Strategy Guide, but it is really for the intermediate player and assumes you know the rules of the game and how to make a governor do what you want.
Much of this guide talks about understanding how the configuration of the galaxy (and other player actions) affects timing of specific strategic decisions. Questions like when to start and stop building colonies? How much should you grow your planets before tasking them with something else? When should you research universities? Which doctrine should you take and when? What initial customizations should I take? The answer to these and other questions depend on the situation and galaxy configuration.
One key question of timing is how fast a galaxy will have all it’s planets colonized. Generally take the number of systems times the average planets in a system divided by the number of active players. If there is only 20 planets per player, make choices to get out there early in order to get more than your fair share of planets. If there are a lot more planets per player say 60, you will want to peak colony production later (and larger). Keep in mind that the average number of planets per player can grow as players become inactive and require modifications of your growth plan.
Many galaxies are won based on who has the best quality fleet (speed and firepower). It follows that you generally want to customize your home world to maximize production. Generally decrease Science to minimum. Balance increasing planet size with increasing production. Production has a more direct impact on planet output, but having higher max population and being able to fit more factories and workers on a planet is important too. Generally keep food lowish (not minimum) but keep in mind how fast you will need to grow population on your home planet. It takes a long time to maximize population on a size 50 planet with only 25 food.
Keep in mind number of planets per player and how soon you need to get out there when making selections.
Generally speed rules, it allows you to catch fleets and avoid them. About +13% speed is pretty important.
Generally next priority is Food Output and Production Output. More food output bonus is needed the sooner you want to peak.
A bonus to science output is nice but if the Technology Cost Multiplier is low, research will be done well before the galaxy ends and the bonus will be partially wasted. Keep in mind the number of planets per player, if low and/or if the Technology Cost Multiplier is high then the Science Bonus has more value. I always take a bonus here, just a matter of how much.
Troop/Station-Military Bonus is nice if you are planning a military defense (see Planet Defense).
Taking a negative bonus to Income per citizen and Food-consumption per citizen is often a way to increase other more important areas. One bank on a planet with no bankers more than compensates for having 8 income per citizen vs 10. These do delay your initial growth though, so consider that.
You can generally do just fine with overall a negative to mining, especially later once you have mining and robo-mining. More ‘planets per player’ increase the likelihood of getting good mining planets and you can live with a larger mining penalty. Keep in mind your decisions about Doctrine:Finance, which I often get due to negative ‘income per citizen’ bonus. It has a -15% mining Penalty. Also see ‘selection of first doctrine’ and understand if you plan on getting Doctrine: Metallurgy. A penalty to mining is more risky the earlier you want a fleet and the smaller the galaxy unless you plan on getting the Doctrine: Metallurgy.
Planetary Defense Penalty. Generally this is fine to take especially if you need something else of a higher priority.
I take other bonuses (i.e. Ship Firepower) only when there are a lot of Civilization Customization Points and the diminishing returns of other bonuses make these more attractive.
The colonization phase goes from the beginning of the game though when all the useful planets are colonized. I say useful planets because the value of planets around size 11 is minimal, especially in larger galaxies.
Colonization is often a tricky balance of building up planets, creating colony ships, researching to speed colonizing and having enough mining to keep up with production. They key is to maximize the ability to deliver colony ships to free planets before all planets are taken, building more production and moving toward faster colony ships in larger galaxies.
Typically one colonizes their home system first. This allows growth earlier to support more colonies later. In galaxies with lower planets per player you might not colonize your home system first if you are worried about finding key mining resources (exotics) early.
Early on scout or send colonies to different systems farther from home to find key planets (super planets and exotics). After you have all key resources just colonize close to home.
Early on several planets with 4-7 factories, 4-7 Farms all cranking out new colonies with enough mining to support them seems to be optimal. However keep in mind that in small galaxies (~<20 Planets Per Player) getting factories would be a delay in creating colonies and someone else will take the last free planets. Likewise in large galaxies (>100 Planets Per Player) and low Research Cost Multipler, you may need Automated Factories before finishing colonization.
Generally in a ‘normal’ galaxy you want to minimize research while colonizing, you still need Cold Fusion, Astro Engineering (often Doctrine: Manufacturing before AE), Advanced Networking, a first level high doctrine (see that section) and PD1+ depending on likelihood of attack. After those stop research while focusing on colonizing.
Timing of when you get Advanced Networking typically depends on the Technology Cost Multiplier, if it is greater get it sooner.
Selection of the first Doctrine is important and usually done early in the game. They can all be useful.
Doctrine: Mobility. This is a great choice to get out and find key planets. If you are worried about finding exotics, try this one. If distances between galaxies are great, the value of this is more. It is a major benefit if you plan a large offensive with light ships. However, keep in mind this is a a short term bonus. Unless you go stealth/invisibility you will move away from light ships later in the game, but the shield penalty says around.
Doctrine: Colonization. Another short term bonus, but if you have 100 planets to colonize it can’t be beat. Know your planets per player and make sure you know the colony-cost-multiplier.
Doctrine: Reproduction. In the right galaxy this may be useful, but I have not explored fully. Make sure you build more farms than you normally would to take advantage. I have seen it used where you maximize planet population before anyone else and get a nice mid size attack going early in the game. See timing of initial attack section.
Doctrine: Metallurgy. This can lead to an early burst of colony ships and is a nice selection for smaller galaxies. The 15% mining bonus can be a nice offset if you have negative civilization trait and/or plan on getting Doctrine: Finance. I tend to also get this if I have no good metal mining planet in my home system, but has diminishing returns the more planets you have to colonize.
In my opinion the biggest mistake many players make is not filling up their planets. It is worth the time to build planets with 20 Automated Factories, 7-8 banks, 12+ farms, 6+ labs, 6+ robo mines, if you have room. Maybe you can’t do it directly, but this should be your goal.
The second biggest mistake is not dedicating planets to a task. All else being equal a dedicated science planet (6 labs+ 4 universities) and a dedicated banking planet (8 banks) will be way more productive than two planets with each with 3 labs and 4 banks. Have governors dedicating planets to military production, ship production, research, scan production, mining, and banking.
Initial Growth
Ideally you want to grow a planet to maximum population before dedicating it to a task. Obviously for early colonies this isn’t possible as you need to mine, research or build colonies at key times before your planet can reach max population. Keep in mind the planets per player and the timing of your growth plan. Just make sure you have a good reason to not maximize populations first.
Build enough farms to maximize population. You are going to want 4-11 farms just for planet growth depending on access to factories/Automated Factories and the size of the planet. Generally if you can build another farm in two turns then do it.
Build just enough defense, see planet defense section below.
The Research Phase goes from when you have a maxed out planet dedicated to research through when you are done with research.
Get as many planets dedicated to research and try and optimize them as much as possible. Some games feel like a race to who can build a destroyers fleet first.
Just because you have research points doesn’t mean you should spend them. Saving research is one of the best ways to keep your score low, see Timing of initial attack. Also saved research can be used for quickly researching to PD3/Planetary Fortress if needed, but not if not needed.
Generally you want to research the basic technologies needed for the colonizing phase quickly, then save research and aim for Science Labs. Consider the following research paths and their affect on timing/size of your fleet.
Colonization basics → Banking/mining → Military research/build fleet (corvettes typically)
Colonization basics → Science Labs → Banking/mining → Automated Factories → Golden Age → Military research/build fleet.
It is common to start with one of these and then shift down to another one. For example, you might start with #1, get stymied by PD3 and shift to #3. Just keep in mind the timing of when you need a fleet. If you have the time - going for #3 or #4 first will give you a larger and better fleet. You need a reason to do #1 or #2, but there are several good reasons: like you need a key planet, want to distract someone from their existing research path, see an opportune target or are being attacked.
Think of it a bit like the game rock/paper/scissors but where what wins depends on the timing, and you can’t see the clock. Let’s say that player A is going down research path #3, player B is gong down research path #4. If player A build an early destroyer fleet and attack player B, they have a good chance of winning. However if player A gives player B the time (Player A is distracted with an easier conquest) to get a military fleet going they will loose. It can be difficult to make the right decisions if you don’t know who your final rival is or what they are doing, see section on ‘Final Target’.
Likewise if Player A is going down path #3 and Player B attacks early using path #1 or #2, player B will likely win. However if Player B waits too long Player A will beat them.
Also consider how the amount of research people can generate affects which path you go down and when you attack. In a galaxy with a high technology cost multiple and/or a small number of planets people in general won’t be able to move up the technology tree very fast. That means that corvette and frigate fleets (#1 and #2 above) will be a good option for a much larger time frame and thus more viable as a strategy.
Doctrine: Dreadnought is required unless you are building a lightweight stealth fleet.
The transition from colonization phase to research phase is an important one. You might have planets doing other things, just keep your primary focus on research.
Try to get Automated Factories as soon after labs as possible, but once you do that there is a lot of flexibility of where you go in the research tree. Think hard about if you really need each technology you research before getting Automated Factories. Again in galaxies with slow research (high technology multiplier and/or low number of planets) you might need to research more before going directly to Automated Factories.
Generally don’t save research points if you can afford Science Labs or Automated Factories, they are the key to getting more research.
Similar to timing your peak colony production with the planets per player information. You should time your initial attack(s).
If you are saving your research, your score will be artificially low just before you get science labs or Automated Factories. These are great times to attack as it will maximize your reputation gain. Note that if you are growing planets to maximum population your score will be a somewhat lower than if you are producing things or building building with those planets.
Consider the following initial attack strategies
Lone Troop Ship. Send a single troop ship out to look for very small planets. Usually the point here is not to take a bunch of planets or even keep them (though that can happen), but to attack and get the reputation bonus before your score pops up due to researching science labs. So ideally you attack, get labs and possibly Automated Factories and come back to finish them off when you have a score much higher than theirs.
Build a little fleet. You maybe be going for Science Labs then Automated Factories, but it is not hard to build a little fleet that can get through PD1. Similarly you might go fairly far from your home area and find fairly low population planet to attack. You attack and get the reputation bonus before your score pops up due to researching Automated Factories or labs. Then you can finish them off when your score is much higher.
Of course you can just build a fleet and go attack someone directly, just keep in mind that PD3 can really slow down a corvette fleet. This can be a very good thing to try as you could pick up a bunch of planets early in the game and that can make a big difference.
Wait and build a destroyer fleet after labs/Automated Factories.
I find #1 and #2 above sometimes more difficult than it sounds. Also the galaxy might be large or peaceful enough that going down #4 is just fine. My advice is to attack with a small fleet early just before your saved research allows you to get labs or Automated Factories, but remain focused on labs or Automated Factories as your primary objective.
Always keep in mind that the game is generally won by the amount of heavy fire power in your fleet. Everything else is a distraction. Apologies to stealth fleet fans.
If your enemy is paying attention surprise can be difficult, but it is worth a try as it generally doesn’t hurt. These ideas don’t make sense even most of the time, but try to work them into a strategy.
Declare war at the latest possible time
Can you research and/or build a command center that gives a surprise bonus to a fleet being chased.
Can researching the Doctrine: Dreadnought give a surprise bump in firepower that changes the result of the battle?
Can the Doctrine: Lightweight give your fleet a speed boost that will allow you to catch a fleet you otherwise couldn’t? Be careful of the Hit Point decrease.
Can you switch a planet from a Hyperspace Transmitter to Hyperspace Receiver just as a fleet arrives? Generally might only make a difference after PD8 and HE4.
I have created a single planet that can crank out one battleship/turn. More typically you can create a planet that builds one cruiser a turn.
You need a home world where production and space have been maximized though homeworld customizations. Then you need to fill up the planet with Automated Factories (about 20), mine typically have a few farms and regular factories. Then you have the people from a couple dedicated people planets transporting their military to this planet. Once you have 2000+ military you should be seriously creating ships.
You typically don’t need PD on the planet as it is pretty safe with 1000+ military on it. If you are worried about bio-bombs park a fleet on top of it.
Try and put one military camp and one military academy on the planet as it seems wasteful not to train the 1000+ military on it.
This approach works a bit later in the game than may be optimal, you can certainly transition from a more dispersed fleet production approach to one focused on fewer high production planets with more military as the game progresses. Just keep in mind that 1000 military on a planet with 70 production are better utilized than 100 military on 10 planets with 35 production.
In galaxies with a lot of home world customizations, planets with high production and size have a very large strategic value relative to other planets.
Likewise if you end up with a size 12, 4-exotic as your only exotic mining planet – stick 1000 military on it. Production will go up a lot.
The transition from having primarily a research focus to a production focus with your empire is important. Once you are capable of making a quality ships that should be your priority. Sometimes you have to change a science focused planet to production, banking, mining or military planet.
How much you slow down research to focus on production is a strategic decision. Typically I would say pushing research as hard as you can is important, but consider a situation where you and your enemy are building a fleet that is neck and neck in a slow research galaxy. Converting 50% of your research planets to production would likely make the difference and give you a window where an attack will be successful. If you wait two long the tides will turn.
Prepare for the transition by making sure you have enough mining and banking to produce and support the ships needed. Likewise ensure key production planets are built up as described in time to start producing quality ships once the technology is researched. Transition science planets as needed.
Keep in mind that Planetary defenses are only a delay tactic until you can take out their fleet with your fleet. If you can’t find a way to take out their fleet, you will likely loose. That being said there are several cases where PD could be temporarily useful.
PD1 – 1-2 turrets. This can be great early in the game. Cost is low and it protects your planets from individual ships and very small fleets. Really doesn’t last long, as soon as someone has 7 corvettes plus more on the way this won’t stop them.
8-16 military per planet. This can be helpful early on but once an enemy can load 50+ troops it won’t slow them down.
PD3-4, 2-3 shields with 2-3 turrets. This can delay a corvette fleet and could force the person to get labs and come back later. Try and beat them to destroyers. Try to save the research for this so you can get it quickly if needed, but don’t get it if not needed.
Planetary Fortress(s) with 16-24+ troops . This can be a great defense especially with a troop bonus and/or Elite. You can really make enemies look for easier targets for most of the game with this approach. Once your enemy can field 1000 troops it is unlikely this will stop them, but even then it could slow them down. This can be so good some players skip turrets and shields altogether until Hyperspace Energy defense.
PD4-8. Generally this good for stealth/invisibility foes. Beyond that I have found this of limited use, but it can slow people down in the right situation. Only get if needed, if not then I get it only after production of a quality fleet is underway.
Hyperspace. I have put together some cool hyperspace defenses, but usually the galaxy are mostly over by the time I have this in place.
The usefulness of different planetary defense strategies evolve throughout the game so keep in mind that you might find yourself switching from one to the other.
Your ‘Final Target’ is the player who if you leave alone will attack you and win or just beat you based on growth and score. Thus the opportunity is to determine who that is and engage them when most inconvenient to them and win. All the strategies discussed in this guide lead you to attacking the right person at the right time to most influence the final ranking.
Unfortunately many people colonize well and have a good score early, but don’t transition to research or they colonize/research well but don’t transition well to production of a quality fleet. Those people who you would beat anyway just by growing are not your final target. Likewise people who you have no chance of catching and likely won’t attack you because of the reputation penalty are not your final target. Note your final target might be an alliance of players vs a single person.
Try to figure out your final target early and hide the fact you have them in your sights. Consider their research path, fleet growth when selecting yours.
Alliances are tricky to use effectively. Most people like to make a short alliances if you ask them early on. However if you make too many you might end up with no one to attack or more likely find out your ideal target is already an ally. If you make none you might be missing a key ally or key information at an important point in the game.
If you are short a critical mining resource and can’t get it, try making an ally.
Use peaces to control when you can attack someone and when they might attack you. Generally Peaces Treaties are accepted – if not expect an attack. If accepted, renew until you are ready to change to an alliance or attack.
Peace Treaties mean nothing once expired. Alliances mean something to many people (but not everyone) if expired. I go with the crowd here and will attack someone with an expired peace but not an expired alliance – unless I have a really good reason. :)
Rarely, but sometimes by talking to people you can figure out who your final target is going to be. The most fun games I have played are when you really click with an ally and accomplish something larger than you both could individually.
Look at the selection of the final doctrine as one of timing of when the final conflict will be at it’s peak.
Golden Age is a good choice when the galaxy will be decided within the 100 turns the Golden age lasts. Typically relatively early in the galaxy. This is a good choice if you are behind. Don’t choose this one too late in the game, if your planets are already mostly at maximum population, you have plenty of mining resources and you have a lot of research going on there are better choices.
Doctrine: Titan. Battleships made with Titan can be great, but it takes a long time to get a sizable fleet as you pretty much need everything except PD researched to start building a quality fleet. However this beats Golden Age at the end of a 700 turn game.
Doctrine: lightweight. This leads to an optimal fleet somewhere between Golden Age and Titan. All existing fleets will get faster (and have less HPs) once you research this technology. Think of the surprise opportunities. The ship upkeep savings is a huge benefit in the longer game. This is a good choice if you are ahead, but not so good a choice with a much larger enemy fleet out there. Then again, maybe not, if you think you can go on the run and take planets faster from then than they can.
Doctrine: Bio-Armor. Not really found a good use for this. I have used it to take planets with high PD quickly as you can heal on the move. Also if you are faster you can hit and run and re-hit a larger fleet.
If you have followed this guide you have first focused on colonization, then transitioned to research, then transitioned again to fleet production and maybe picked off a few targets along the way. You have figured out your final target and are ready to attack (or they have attacked you) – what do you do now?
If you can take out their main fleet because you are faster, fine go for it, you should eventually be able to catch them. If you are building faster than them start another fleet to take planets while you are chasing their fleet.
If you can’t take out their main fleet the question is who can do more damage faster. Go after main production facilities instead of pointlessly chasing their main fleet. If you can make their production 20% lower than yours then time is on your side and they have to come after you. This works for stealth/invisibility foes too.
Exotic Planets of your enemy can be a good target, but usually it is possible to get exotics from other players.
Keep in mind that in many galaxies home planets with a production home world customizations and super planets can be worth 3 -5 other nice planets. These should be your primary target(s).
Galaxy Replays are now free. This is really the best way to learn, watch the replays of winning players. Especially the points in the game where their score diverges from yours if you were in the same galaxy. Simply find your galaxy Here and select then “Replay”.
guides\eldersguide.txt · Last modified: 2012/02/26 22:17 by elder-race
